


Flight of Fancy

by LadySilver



Category: My Secret Identity
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 09:12:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/pseuds/LadySilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 21st century has some new challenges for Andrew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flight of Fancy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tvashti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/gifts).



“God, Andrew,” Erin said, emphasizing her disgust with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re being such a baby about this.” She snapped the handle of her suitcase down and hefted the luggage onto the metal scale at the check-in desk. With a flourish, she pulled out her tickets and ID and dropped them on the check-in counter. Though this was only her third time on a plane, she liked to believe that she was a frequent flier. More importantly, she liked to pretend that everyone around her knew less than she did, doubly so when it came to her brother. At nineteen, she still had a lot of maturing to do.

“I’m not being a baby,” Andrew replied, unable to keep all the defensiveness out of his tone. He was six years older than her, and chagrined at how his baby sister’s jibes always got to him. That was the problem with siblings: they knew where one’s skin was the thinnest. “I just don’t like airports.” He lifted his own, much bigger, suitcase onto the scale next to hers without even a grunt of effort. A normal person would have had trouble, and he would on the other end of the trip when he had to be a normal person, but that only made it more important to show off now. Not that Erin knew he was showing off.

Erin rolled her eyes again. “You mean you don’t like flying. My big brother is afraid of _airplanes_.” She poked his arm and taunted, “Baby.”

“I’m not _afraid_ of anything,” he corrected. His hands were sweating, though, and he had to keep wiping them dry on his jeans. He was also chewing hard on a piece of gum that he’d popped in his mouth so that he wouldn’t gnaw his cheeks open. 

The check-in went smoothly. The flight was on time. There were no problems with the baggage, despite the weight. Andrew had been prepared for an overage fee, so having one tacked on didn’t surprise him or push him down the spiral of the bad mood he was already descending. Traveling home for Christmas got expensive, especially when he insisted on packing all the gifts and bringing them himself instead of having them shipped to the house. He couldn’t trust his mom not to peek, and he knew that Dr. J kept a scanner in his lab for just that purpose.

Erin and Andrew were standing in line at the security check-point when Erin shook her head and again asked, “You went to college on the other side of the country, and then grad school even further away. How did you think you were going to get back and forth?”

This time, Andrew didn’t stop himself from biting his lip. “I wasn’t worried about that,” he said, a non-answer, if ever there was one. “Those were the best schools for my field.”

“The best schools that would take you, you mean.” She flipped her long brown hair and planted a hand on her waist to show her disdain. “I don’t know why Mom insisted that I had to go to the same university as you.”

Erin’s complaint was an old one, and Andrew didn’t have an answer, though he did have some suspicions. Sending her youngest child out into the world had been tough on their mother, and he figured that she wanted the assurance of having her two kids in the same place. Then again, she could just be using them to spy on each other. 

He’d never really known what his mom might have figured out, especially since she’d read his diary all those years ago. While he’d convinced her then that the contents were just fiction, who knew what she’d witnessed along the way. The older he got, the more he realized that his mother was a lot smarter than he’d given her credit for. 

“It’s probably just easier for her to keep track of us this way,” he answered, instead. He wiped his hands on his jeans again and rolled his shoulders, trying to ease some of the tension building in them.

Erin nodded like she was going to accept that point, and then snorted out a laugh. “I can’t believe you have aviophobia.” She frowned, thoughtful for a second before saying, “Or is it a claustrophobia and acrophobia combination? Please tell me it’s not agoraphobia because I do _not_ want to have to explain to anyone how panic attacks really work.” She adjusted the strap of the purse on her shoulder to make it easier to remove when it was time, then toed her shoes off and picked them up with a knowing sigh. No panic attacks here, she seemed to be saying.

Andrew groaned inwardly. One psychology class and Erin already thought she had all the knowledge in the world. “I’m _not_ afraid of flying,” he protested, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn’t draw the attention of the other people around him. Some of them might actually have those fears, and he didn’t want anyone to think he was dismissing them. He slipped his own shoes off and used the movement of bending to retrieve them to hide another drying of his hands.

If only his sister understood how unafraid he really was; he _loved_ flying: the feeling of weightlessness, the brush of the wind across his face, the wide-open spaces all around. Nothing compared. Though he’d never told anyone, one of the reasons he’d chosen the universities he had was because of how rural they were, which made it a lot easier to go flying without risk of being observed.

One of these days, maybe when Erin had grown up a little bit, he would show her, rub her face in her wrong conclusions. That day, unfortunately, would not be soon, and definitely not within the next week. He’d already learned the hard way how futile it was to try to convince someone of the impossible when he couldn’t offer proof.

The line inched forward and Andrew glanced at his watch. He wanted to get an accurate read on when his downtime would start. How long it would last was still a guess, but he might as well use this experience to refine the hypothesis he already had. 

They passed a sign that reminded the passengers about the rules for laptops and electronics, then another one with the list of items banned from carry-on luggage. Chomping harder on the gum, he eyed the X-ray machines in front of him and tried to remind himself that they were there for everyone’s safety.

“Relax, Andrew,” Erin chided. “If I’m not afraid, then you shouldn’t be afraid.” She dumped her things in the appropriate containers, then stepped through the X-ray machine as if it were any other doorway. On reaching the other side, she turned back and splayed her arms in a gesture that clearly said “See!”

Andrew drew and let out a deep breath, and prepared to step through the X-ray machine. On the other side, Erin had a teasing twinkle in her eye, and another comment half-formed on her lips. He shook his head and bolstered himself by imagining the look on her face when she finally understood that it wasn’t flying that bothered him; his nerves were all about the opposite and how much he hated how the security at the airports grounded him.


End file.
